New Radio (NR) has been discussed in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as a key technology for supporting the operation of the next generation wireless network. NR technology is expected to provide flexible radio protocol structure and architecture to accommodate a wide variety of service scenario requirements, such as high throughput, high reliability, low latency, and lower energy consumption. Network slice and radio access network (RAN) profile are envisioned as two of the key enabling technologies for NR. Also, ProSe UE-to-Network relay service has been under discussion in the 3GPP radio access network (RAN) Working Groups (WGs). However, the mechanisms for a core network (CN), a base station, and/or a relay user equipment (UE) to activate a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay service (hereinafter referred to as “Relay service”), and the relationships and procedures between network slice and RAN profile upon Relay services had remained unclear. Moreover, for efficient radio resource management, RAN needs to provide further control to help a relay UE and/or a remote UE operate on appropriate component carriers) (CCs).
Thus, there is a need in the art for relay network slice and RAN profile provisioning procedures and radio access mechanisms for relay services.